Three wild street rods at SEMA 2018 

Glasurit Paints a division of BASF that uses European technology for speed, ease of use, color and durability had a large display at the 2018 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas that featured three wild street rods.

ROAD RAGE

Road Rage is a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Widebody built by the Roadster Shop  powered by a LSX 454 cubic engine that develops 750 horsepower with a custom Kinsler stack injection system, and featured independent rear suspension.

KASPER 

Kasper is a 1974 Plymouth Duster built by Goolsby Customs for owner Beth Hazelwood. The car featured a huge number of body modifications that included tucked and smoothed bumpers, stretched front and rear wheel wells, shortened cowl and lengthened hood, and lowered rocker panels. Kasper is powered by a  Dodge Hellcat engine with a Bowler 6-speed transmission and a custom interior. 

THE CHIEF 

The Chief is a 1956 Pontiac Star Chief Convertible built by Customs by Kileary for owner Frank Howard and is  powered by  a 418-cubic inch Whipple supercharged LSX engine and a custom Relicate leather interior    

All photos by the author 

  

  

“Afterthought” 1930 Ford Model A 

“Afterthought” Ted and Colleen Hubbard’s 1930 Ford Model A Coupe built by CAL Automotive Creations in Bennington, Nebraska was featured in the MOTHERS® booth at the 2018 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas Nevada.

The car is powered by 1949 8BA Ford Flathead 276 cubic inch V-8 engine built by H&H Flatheads with Stromberg 97 carburetors and Ardun heads backed up by a Bowler C4 automatic transmission.

The coupe’s body was modified with a 1-1/2-inch section up front with a 2-inch section in the rear, while the top was replaced with a 1932 roof skin, lost its visor, and was chopped 6 inches. The car also features an operating rumble seat. 

Additional custom features include Atomic Machine headlights, a beautiful CAL Automotive-crafted grille and a set of Halibrand-style wheels crafted by EVOD with a bronze powder-coat finish. The Paleozoic Blue paint was custom mixed and sprayed by the car owner.

Inside the car the custom dash features a 1957 Oldsmobile gauge cluster and the door panels, seats and side panels are crafted from distressed leather Recovery Room Hot Rod Interiors.

The car was a 2017 Ridler Great Eight finalist and is featured in the 2018 MOTHERS catalog.

All photos by the author

POWRi BCRA midgets return 

to Kern County Raceway Park

KCRP announcer Steve Hughes, left

 interviews feature winner Austin Liggett 

The POWRi Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midget auto racing cars and stars returned for their second 2019 visit to the 1/3-mile dirt track at the Kern County Raceway Park (KCRP) on Friday night May 3, 2018, with eleven cars signed in at the pit gate. The POWRI BCRA midgets were the featured cars in a diverse program that also included the KCRP American Stocks, Pro Stocks, and 305 cubic inch winged sprint cars. 

Austin Liggett started his perfect night by setting quick time during time trials, as he toured the oval in 14.603 seconds in his SR11-powered midget to top Anaheim, California’s Robert Dalby’s Esslinger powered machine with a 14.692 best lap. Dalby narrowly edged out local favorite Shannon McQueen by .002 seconds who was third fastest in her #7 Esslinger powered Bullet chassis.

Fourth fastest qualifier was another local racer Cory Elliott in his family’s #11E midget, with Terry “Panda” Nichols fifth, and Kyle Beilman in his Dave.Com sponsored midget the sixth fastest racer in time trials. Seventh fastest was Ricky Lewis in the #1N, with CJ Sarna eighth, Troy Morris III in the #07 ninth, followed by the ageless Marvin Mitchell in his #78 tenth with the leading Rookie of the Year contender, fourth-generation racer Robert Carson eleventh fastest in the Howard and Karen Segur #99 entry.

Austin Liggett continued his successful night in the first eight-lap heat race as he shot into the lead in turn three of the first lap past early leader Terry Nichols. On lap two, Shannon McQueen spun to a stop in turn three as she battled Lewis for position. Shannon restarted at the tail of the field, and before a lap was completed Lewis spun to a stop himself on the high side of turn three. The field reformed for the lap two restart with Lewis at the tail, but because of a broken steering arm, Ricky’s #1N midget was unable to make it through the first turn and he slapped the outside wall hard, which damaged the car so badly that it ended his racing for the night.

When racing in the first heat race resumed with two laps completed, on lap four McQueen moved up to third place with a nifty move on the low side of turn three to pass Morris, then she moved past Nichols on the inside of turn one on lap six to claim second place. McQueen was unable to close on leader Liggett over the last two circuits and at the drop of the checkered flag, the heat race one finishing order was Liggett, McQueen, Nichols and Morris as Lewis did not finish.

CJ Sarna and Kyle Beilman shared the front row for the start of the second heat race, and the pair battled side-by-side until turn four when Beilman surged ahead into the lead. On lap three Elliott moved up from his third starting position into second place and Dalby got past Sarna to drop CJ into fourth place. Elliott closed the gap on leader Beilman and challenged for the lead on lap five but was unable to get past the Dave.Com machine, and at the finish the order was Beilman, Elliott, Dalby, Sarna, Mitchell and Carson. 

When the POWRi passing points were totaled from the heat race finishing orders, the two heat race winners shared the front row for the start of the 25-lap feature, with local racers McQueen and Elliott sharing the second row. 

At the drop of the green flag, Austin Liggett shot into the lead as Beilman moved to the high side of the track down the backstretch, but his #31 car flipped wildly end-over-end through turn three which brought out the red flag. Kyle crawled out his damaged race car uninjured, and the field restarted less the cars of Beilman and Nichols which moved Elliott up to the front row alongside Liggett for the start.

At the drop of the green, Austin steered his #83 straight to the point with Elliott in hot pursuit followed by Dalby in third and McQueen in fourth place. Liggett stretched his advantage into a 5-car length lead during the early laps, but by lap eleven, Cory closed in using the high line as Austin worked the low side. 

On lap 14, Robert Dalby began to challenge Elliott for second place and got past Cory and settled into second place on lap 20. The yellow caution flag flew on lap 23 as Troy Morris III spun as he battled Sarna and McQueen, but Troy restarted without any loss of position as Marvin Mitchell and Robert Carson were both a lap down to the rest of the field.

When the green flag flew with three laps to go, Dalby quickly closed in on Liggett but could not pass him, but back in the pack Morris passed both Sarna and McQueen to claim fourth place. Austin Liggett led every lap of the 25-lap feature to top Robert Dalby, Cory Elliott, Shannon McQueen, CJ Sarna, Marvin Mitchell and Robert Carson. Among the non-finishers Kyle Beilman was awarded ninth place and Terry Nichols a tenth-place finish. 

Austin made it a clean sweep with fast time, a heat race win and the feature win on an evening when he led every lap of every race in which he competed.  

The POWRi BCRA midget racers return to action on May 11 for a co-sanctioned race with the Washington Midget Racing Association on the paved Shasta Speedway ¼-mile track on Shasta County Fairgrounds in Anderson, California together with the BCRA vintage division. Also scheduled to be in action for a program that starts at 6 PM will be the Shasta late models, limited modifieds, bombers, legend cars, hornets and the pro-4 modified class.    

     

       

 

1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible

The 1960 Ford Thunderbird was the third and final year of the second generation “square birds” which replaced the first generation two-seater Thunderbird the sales of which Ford Motor Company executives believed were held back by only having seating for two.  When introduced in 1958, the new four-seat Thunderbird was the first Ford built using unibody construction (no separate chassis).

Ford executives were correct about enlarging the new Thunderbird as it won the Motor Trend Car of the Year award and sales increased each model year. In 1958 total Thunderbird sales totaled nearly 38,000 in just nine months of production. Sales shot up to nearly 67,500 units, and in 1960, Ford sold 92,800 Thunderbirds, which included 11,800 convertibles like this one shown at the "Autos of Alamo" car show.

The 1960 Ford Thunderbird is distinguished from the front three-quarter view  by the egg crate style grille and triple vertical chrome "hashes" on the rear quarter panels.

The 1960 Thunderbird is easily identified from the rear by its triple taillights

352-cubic inch V-8 engine developed 300 horsepower from the factory

The 1960 Thunderbird was equipped with bucket front seats and a console

The car shown at Alamo was equipped with optional Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels

The convertible top eliminated much of the trunk room

All photos by the author

A cut-away dirt late model at PRI 2018 

The Goodridge Racing booth at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis Indiana featured a cut-away 2019 Lazer late model chassis to show off Goodridge’s new line of G-Line Ultra PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) lined hose which features an Aramid and stainless steel outer braid for lightweight and high strength with full vacuum resistance up to 200 degrees Celsius (nearly 400 degrees Fahrenheit).

The first Lazer Chassis was built in Jonestown Pennsylvania in 1978 by the Bernheisel family, who still run the company which sells parts, chassis, bodies and offers repairs and set-up assistance to their customers.  In 2018, six (6) Lazer Chassis late model racers combined to collect eight (8) track championships, and Lazer Chassis drivers recorded 55 victories during the 2018 season.  

All photos by the author 

Check out the Goodridge products at their website at  https://goodridge.com/ and the Lazer chassis website at https://lazerchassis.com/chassis_lm.html

An update on Larry Dixon Jr.'s 

two-seat dragster 

On April 11 drag racer Larry Dixon Junior filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Glendora, California, based national Hot Rod Association (NHRA) with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis. Dixon’s suit accused the sanctioning body of wrongfully suspending him and blacklisting him two years ago, which has deprived him of his livelihood. The plaintiffs in the suit are Championship Adventures, LLC, Larry Dixon, and Larry Dixon Racing, LLC.

According to the suit, Dixon, with 62 career NHRA victories and his investment partner Nick Salamone, a Philadelphia-area businessman, spent two years and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to develop a unique two-seater car that caters to the popular fan-experience trend.  

Larry Dixon in happier times 

at the 2017 SEMA show

The two-seat dragster unveiled 

at the 2017 SEMA show

Dixon said the NHRA supported the idea he pitched it to NHRA officials in 2016, but the trouble began when the vehicle went on display at the Traxxas booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) trade show in Las Vegas Nevada. Dixon distributed a press release unveiling Larry Dixon Top Fuel Experience, billing it as the “fastest ride in drag racing.”

Larry Dixon Jr.'s two-seat dragster 

as shown at the 2018 PRI show 

Dixon’s complaint claims that on the opening day of the trade show, an NHRA official “strategically visited Championship Adventures’ booth at a time when Mr. Dixon was not there and conducted an unauthorized ‘inspection’ of the prototype of the two-seater car.” 

The NHRA official spotted an expired NHRA safety inspection sticker in the car, which Dixon said was there “simply because the chassis for the prototype for the two-seater dragster was originally a car that had competed in the NHRA.” Dixon argues was that “no one had removed the sticker, as there was no need to remove an expired sticker when the car was not built as a competition car.”

Days after the SEMA show the NHRA issued a “statement of action against participant” notice which claimed Dixon had violated NHRA rules and suspended him indefinitely as a driver, team owner or crew member. Dixon’s suit alleges that the NHRA’s action was “an obvious effort to use NHRA’s unfettered control over professional drag racing to control the market in which two-seater exhibition cars compete for business.”

The complaint said Dixon “has now been entirely deprived of his livelihood and sole source of income by this unjustifiable suspension — which is, in effect, a lifetime ban from NHRA — unless he relinquishes an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as the future profits that he could derive from that investment.”

All photos by the author 

POWRi BCRA midgets visit 

Stockton 99 Speedway

On Saturday April 27, the Lucas Oil POWRi Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midget series made their first 2019 visit to the historic Stockton 99 Speedway to help celebrate the club’s 80^th year of racing. The midgets raced as part of a program that also included the BCRA vintage division, the Gunslingers winged sprint cars, the North State Modifieds, and the Legends of Kearny Bowl.

Unfortunately, during practice, two POWRi BCRA midgets suffered mechanical problems and were forced to withdraw; Cody Jessop’s engine spun a bearing, and David Goodwill’s car broke a throttle shaft. 

Chad Nichols in the #17 Shanoian Esslinger was the first drvier out for time trials and Chad set the mark for others to try to match at 13.005 seconds. Mark Maliepaard in his #51 Fit & Finish Hot Rod Interiors Special was second fastest with his best lap of 13.228 seconds, followed by Frankie Guerrini in Bob Rosen’s #4 midget third fastest at 13.714 seconds. BCRA stalwart JR Williams in the J& J Racing #74 was fourth fastest and fourth-generation racer Robert Carson was the fifth fastest qualifier.

Guerrini and Maliepaard shared the front row for the start of the evening’s 20-lap feature race with quick qualifier Chad Nichols slotted into third place. Guerrini held the point for the first lap before Maliepaard slipped past in turn three into the race lead, then on the next lap Nichols dropped Guerrini to third place. Nichols gave chase to the leader but Maliepaard ran consistently fast laps and Nichols could never get close enough to make a move. 

By the end of the race #51 held a comfortable 4-car advantage over Nichols. Guerrini came home third with JR Williams fourth and rookie of the year contender Robert Carson in fifth place. The feature ran caution flag free and was completed in four minutes, 22 and 92/100 seconds.

The POWRi BCRA midget series kicks off the month of May with an action-packed doubleheader first weekend. The first race on Friday night May 3 at the Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park will have the mighty midgets in action along with the track’s Pro Stock and American Stocks series and the 305-cubic inch winged sprint cars. 

The following day, Saturday May 4 the POWRi BCRA midget series will visit the paved Madera Speedway along with the Legends of the Kearney Bowl, the California Hard Tops, the Western US Midgets, SWT (South West Tour) Trucks, Legends cars and the 100-lap California Challenge Cup for the track’s stock car division.